After a whirlwind trip to Europe I made it back in time for Christmas. It was wonderful spending my birthday with family and friends in Germany, and it was sad to leave. Nevertheless I am very happy to be back with JP (I am sure he's glad to read this!) and all our critters.
It's great to come back and find the horses have improved in the meantime - thanks, Sandy and JP! Saumur had a visit from the 'French Stylist' (aka JP) and now sports a beautiful trace clip. Saumur obviously loved getting 'styled by JP' and didn't budge during the whole clipping procedure. Obviously, those two work well together and don't need me to meddle with unsolicted advise ("a bit higher maybe").
I had one of the best rides on Saumur, he was on the aids, with a light, even connection, and a great collected canter. However, it seemed that Remy used my absence to test the waters -- meaning he was pushy with Sandy and the girls that did the daily turnout. I was pretty astonished, as he's fine when I lead him, but typical adolescent that he is he needs to push the envelope to see what he can get away with. At Sandy's place - not much. Manners are written in capital letters and Remy is quickly getting with the program.
It's been years since I worked with a youngster and it's a good reminder that especially for the 'Greenies' things have to be either black or white. For example, longing. I tend to keep the modulation even and speak in rather soft tones. That doesn't help Remy, the 'walk', 'trot', 'canter', 'whoa', and 'good boy' need to distinction, in order for him to get the difference. Sticking with one language makes it more difficult for me. But the result is immediate when I clearly make the difference between the commands for the gaits.
Sandy also reminded me that I should learn from my mistakes (mistakes, huh?). Yeah, OK, this tendency to drop the reins as soon as the horse does something well is not good training. I pretty much have it under control with Saumur (thanks to plenty of reminders from Sandy) but wouldn't you know it, I started it right up with Remy. Or, another example, the "Good Boy", associated with stop and sugar. At one point Saumur would put in a dead stop to whatever he was doing when I said "Good Boy", he then craned his neck and waited for the sugar to come. With Saumur's previous fragile state of mind it made sense. Better stop for sugar than bolting halfway across the county! Luckily for both of us, this is ancient history.
Hopefully, with Remy, we won't need the sugar to stop the runaway train... I'll work on my voice so the 'Whoa' will do the trick.
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